COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONThis English style of beer, also known as Sweet Stout or Cream Stout, first appeared in London in the late 1800’s. The early brewers touted the health benefits of the milk sugar in this beer which today relates mainly to the increased amount of calories(no real health benefits…sorry). The milk sugar adds a well rounded sweetness to this dark beer and makes it an outstanding, year ‘round stout.

It has a very pleasant smell of coffee and chocolate. It pours a rich black color. It has a smooth, rich texture. It combines chocolate, coffee, milk, and malt to produce a fantastic flavor. Smooth finish and a great beer.

Another American classic I had yet to taste, some kind of hybrid between classic oatmeal stout and classic milk stout, from Colorado. Loose and irregular yet creamy, deep yellowish beige head, retaining well around the edges and leaving a tan veil over the beer; colour is a very dark mahogany brown, approaching black but still translucid around the edges. Aroma has notable smokiness at first, smoked herring even and reminding me more of a smoked porter than a milk stout; this smoky accent fades away in warming up, when the bouquet becomes notably sweeter, via impressions of walnuts, wet leather, black peppercorns, coffee grounds, cigar ashes, to a lot of dark chocolate gaining strength, dried leaves, caramel candy, dried stonefruit, raisins and candied dates. Dryish and actually fairly neutral onset, some restrained dried fruit sweetness, mineral accents, soft carbo as expected and creamy mouthfeel due to the lactose but still a relatively thin body for a 6% ABV stout; umami flavours more prevalent after the first sip, very light sourish touch; rounded, nutty and toasted maltiness and more chocolatey roasted bitterness in the end, but everything remains gentle and soft. The smoky accent from the aroma, where it seems to fade away after a while, returns retronasally but only faintly so. Finish is juicy and malty, with the dark chocolate bitterness lingering on the root of the tongue, along with a touch of leafy hops, resulting in a bittersweet ending. This is a fine stout, but I must admit I expected more creaminess and a thicker lactose flavour. Glad I tasted this.

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